Thingvellir : Center of the Godic Republic (930-1262)
Scandinavia's Age of Progress, extending from about 800-1000
has often been identified with the activities of the Vikings and their
aggressive and warlike expansion towards the South. Today there is a welcome
tendency to pay more attention to their achievements in normal life. Their
peaceful pursuits were as merchants, navigators, explorers, settlers, energetic
farmers while all around them life and growth flourished. We should add
the art of poetry, which then was everyman's occupation, and the cultivation
of their language, which they pursued. For nobody doubts that Scandinavians
in the Viking period had more perfect language than ever at any other time
in their history. Initiative and originality were the oustnading characteristics
of the Scandinavians' in that period. And if they had anything that was
perfectly original and "self created" in those times, that was
the Godic Republic of Iceland. This Republic had a new form of government
with a center for its yearly meeetings at Thingvellir ("Parliament
Plains" on the Axe-River.
Although the Althing-Parliament has its precedents and its parallels, its
further development; its evolution, took a different course in Iceland.
If warfare and weaponry had been an important part of Viking life, it is
evident that with the establishment of the Althing in Thingvellir an attempt
was made to form an orderly and law abiding society in Iceland. Threre
is no doubt that the juristic and process like treatment of the feuds between
families helped calm the passions. Then, instead of revenge came a payment
or weregild and when this payment had been made, the honor of the family
was saved.
The name Thingvöllur (meaning a plain or lawn where a Thing is held)
is not unique; neither in Iceland nor abroad. There was in the Western
Quarter a place called Thingvellir which was (as recorded in the Eyrbyggja
saga) the site of a regular Thing even before the establishment of the
Althing. There is the Tynwald on the Isle of Man; a Dingwall on the Orkney
Islands and another Dingwall in Scotland. Tingvoll is found in Norway;
and in England there are even several names relating to the original Thingvöllr
name of the Viking tradition So the name of Thingvellir in Iceland sounded
quite familiar in many lands in the Viking era, and had a real significance
for them who heard it.
Gudbrandur Vigfússon, an Icelandic scholar of the 19th century assumed
that at least three features of landscape and of architecture had to be
present anywhere that a Thing was to be held. He listed the following three
as essential:
1. A slope, or hill, Thingbrekka, Thinghóll or Lögberg (Law
Rock).
2. A Lögrétta (Council Circle), either loosely hedged or built
up in a solid earthwork.
3. A Thingvöllr: a plain where the audience could stand.
These three features of the site and its surroundings correspond to the
three main factors to be considered in the Thing-meetings and they are:
1. The recitation of the Law; the pronouncement of sentences: issuance
of summons; and any announcements: the Lögberg or Law Rock.
2. Judicial proceedings and decisions on the validity of Law, the Lögrétta
or the Law Council.
3. The audience of the common Thingpeople - the Thingvöllr.
At Thingvellir on the Axe River there is a common agreement among historians
about the precise position of the Lögberg (Law Rock). There is a full
agreement although not quite as precise on the place of the Lögrétta
(the structure) . Since the Thing- proceedings were so extensive here,
thre were two places for the audience to stand on instead of the customary
one. The first and the more important place for the audiences of Thingvellir
wa on the slope around Lögberg and its immediate vicinity and the
second place was at the Lögrétta east of the Axe River. The
original or first Parliament plains (thing-völlr) must have been the
second of the two places.
Just as the Thing-institution, in its beginning, in Iceland about 930 is
a branch of the Things as practiced in Scandinavia in that age - the Scandinavian
Thing is itself a branch of the age old Thing institution among the Teutons,
which was referred to by Tacitus in his written work titled "Germania
of about 100 A.D." In Latin lettered inscriptions from Folk-migration
areas there occurs the name "Mars Thingsus" whom we take to be
a protection god of the Things (Thor or Tyr).
The Book of Settlements (Landnámabók) states that the Eastern
Fjords of Iceland were the first parts of Iceland to become fully settled.
Indeed, two of the initiative-takers to the establishment of a common parliament
were Ulfljótr and Goat Hair (Geitskör), who were from the Eastern
Fjords. A third important supporter of a convention for all Iceland was
Thorsteinn Ingólfsson of Reykjavík, who was the son of the
first settler there. Where the settlement was most mature, and was older
and better organized, the support to a common Althing was strongest and
most effective.
Precedents and Parallels: In the Book of Icelanders it is clearly stated
that the models and proposals for the first Icelandic Laws were sought
at Thorleif-the-Wise's, the Lawman of Gula-Thing located in Western Norway.
Accordingly, a stable ar- rangement of the legal procedures had been attained
there. Norwegian historians (Holmsen e.al.) assume that this occurred only
a few decades prior to the settlement of Iceland. The Law, however, was
much older than those procedures themselves. Preserved are remains of the
Laws of the Lombards, and of some other nations and peoples of the Teutonic
stock. In Norway, there are names and districts of the land with names
like Njardarlög (The Laws of Njörd), Tyslög (The Laws of
Týr) and Freyslög. (The Laws of Freyr) and others which indicate
that in each particular district certain Codes of Laws (perhaps supported
by Runic writs) were in force, and that each code- district was protected
by some god or divinity.
In Trondheim, Norway, the social organisation was most stable and effective.
Here at midsummer the people met at Frosta in the middle of the large Trondheim
Fjord to regulate their affairs. Some historians, nevertheless, believe
that Frosta was a younger Thingplace than Gula of the Southwest. In the
SE part of Norway they had the Heids'vis-lög. In Sweden there were
certainly great Things and wise Lawmen, some of whom were Thorgny Thorgnysson
of Uppsala, and Emund of Skara in Vaestergotland. In Denmark there was
a great Thing at Viborg and another at Öresund. The Thingplace of
the Faroe Islands was on Streymoy Island "near the harbour which they
call Thor's harbour" (today's Tórshavn), relates the Saga of
the Faroese.
"Old Laws of the Land" are also mentioned in the Saga of the
Faroese. We have already mentioned the Dingwall of the Orkney's referred
to in the Saga of the Orkneys. On the Isle of Man is their famous Tynwald
Hill, and they have preserved some ceremonies-traditions even more faithfully
than the North.
The only Thing, however, that can be seen as a direct successor and a copy
of the Icelandic Thing is the Greenland Thing at Gardar. It was indeed
called the Althing, just as its Icelandic model, even though the Greenland
Althing was much smaller.- If the colonization of Vinland from the North
had come to a total success, the Althing like organisation of government
could have spread over the whole of the Western Hemisphere.
The Lögrétta transforms itself into a legislative body.
Úlfljótr, the Lawman, had introduced some law proposals,
probably to a district Thing, shortly before the first Althing was held.
Goat-Hair (Geit-skör), his fosterbrother travelled around all Iceland
in order to introduce the idea of a Common Thing, and won many supporters
to that idea. On his travels Goat Hair also was looking for a proper place
for his thought-of Parliament. Incidentally, at the same time, a hideous
crime (slave murder) was committed by a landowner in the SW, and the man
was condemned, (presumably at a Leidvöllr-court) and his estate confiscated
for the common good. That place was called, at that time, Blue Woods, after
the bluish tinted mist that sometimes is seen over the lava bush when the
weather is good. Having this estate available as a Parliament setting,
Goat-Hair sent out a message, preferably to his contact men who had promised
to build some Main-Temples (höfud-hof), that on a certain day in the
early summer, a Thing should be summoned to meet in Blue Woods. In accordance
with this summons, chieftains, bold peasants from all parts of the Countrym
lawmen, temple priests and prierstesses and a number of other people streamed
to the place where cases would now be prosecuted:
"- in that Thing
where bold men should
in full numbered courts be placed". Sigrdrífumál.
"Full-numbered courts" consisted of 36 judges (cp. Egils Saga),
as it was in Norway where it was the practice at Things, that three Hersir-s
(barons) appointed 12 judges each to make up the right figure for the Lögrétta-court.
In Norway the more powerful Earls or Kings could approve or disapprove
of what was concluded by the Court. However in the case of the first Common
Lögrétta in Blá-skógar, something extraordinary
happened, for it was established that neither inside or outside the Common
Lögrétta any single ruler overpowered other rulers, as was
possible in Norway. Somehow,by arrangements made by the initiative takers,
it had been decided who were to be placed in the first Lögrétta.
Somehow, it had been arranged who were to be placed in the first Lögrétta
- of which everybody had thought as a Court. Primarily that should have
been those appointed Main-temple keepers with whom Goat-Hair had negotiated
in his expedition around Iceland. Apparently they were primarily the priests
of the Main Temples, which Goat Hair had appointed and subsidized. The
Hofpriests, so getting preeminence over other Hofkeepers, were called Godwordsmen
(Men of a Divine Speech) or Godi-s.
The Godi-s thus took their appointed places in the Lögrétta.
When this first court had been ap-pointed it became a paradigm for all
that followed - for as soon as those 36 sat themselves down in a circle,
they discovered that the power was vested in themselves. They were not
there to give verdicts in particular suits, as the people had though originally,
but in order to enact and accept law proposals, according to which judgements
could be passed. They then accepted Ulfljót', the Lawman's proposals
and next to this elected a Lawspeaker instead of the Lawman, yet with extended
duties.
The first article of Law they passed from the Lögrétta was
the article which forbade any war-ships with war-heads to be admitted into
the seas immediately neighboring the shores of Iceland. These seas were
known as the Land-sight seas, for they were within the sight-limit of those
looking towards the land from ships. With this statute Iceland made itself
an independent Country. This statute never failed as long as the Godic
Republic lasted. Not a single account gives the slightest hint that this
Law was ever broken. With this first enactment of laws, the Godi-s transformed
the previous judiciary Lögrétta into a legislative body. In
the Godic laws it is stated, that those who sit in the Lögrétta
shall "rule law and exceptions from the law). What happened here,
in this instance is that the Godi-s were now in full power as legislators.
They had sat down in the Lögrétta as judges - everybody expected
that and nothing else, but they stood up as Lawmakers and the actual rulers
of the land. The whole outcome of the process was that a Godic Republic
has been created, and a way of ruling such a state had been laid down.
The Lögrétta appoints Judges. As soon as the Godi-s had enacted
the Laws they discovered that it was not fit, and would not work, that
they should judge by laws, which they just had passed. Having given the
law they felt, indeed, that they should also elect the judges to produce
the verdicts. It was said that "the Godi shall walk into a particular
pass between the cliffs (Hamraskard) and place his Judge there, according
to Godic laws. With this arrangement the judges became 36 in number, as
was required for the court, and also of the same number as the Godi's in
the Lögrétta. Since there were so many Godi-s to appoint them,
the judges became fairly independent. Due to this condition, we assume,
it followed that the Godic practice came into being: to separate the judiciary
power from the legislative power. This separation was unprecedented in
the Middle Ages.
Later, (abt. 964) the courts in the Althing became four in number: one
for each Quarter of the Country. They were thus called Quarter courts.
Later on they finally added the Fifth court to judge in questionable cases.
This fifth court in effect became the highest Court and sat in the Lögrétta
edifice between its regular meetings. The other courts usually sat on the
Plains around the Lögrétta, close to the river, as it was running
then. But these other courts' meetings places could be changed. When Runólfr
Ulfsson of Dalr exiled Hjalti-the- Christian, in the year 999 for his blasphemies,
Runólfr placed the court's meeting place to the brigdge over the
Axe river. The fact that the court could meet on the bridge tells us that
the bridge was both strong and spacious.
In the District Things which met each year before the regular Althing meeting,
these District Things made court appointments and also the 3 convening
Godi-s each appointed 12 judges in accordance with the older practice of
appointing a total of 36 judges. At the District Things cases from inside
each district and from smaller things were litigated. After being litigated
at the District Things cases could be appealed at the higher Althing to
its Quarter Courts, and from the Quarter Courts litigation could be referred
to the Fifth or Supreme Court.
In legal cases jurys and witnesses were produced in the court whereby witnesses
stated what they had perceived relative to the facts of the case to be
tried in the court while the jury members only announced what they believed
to be true about the case. In this distinction is revealed a more accurate
self-observation of the mind processes than was common in the Middle Ages
in Europe.
The Executive Power. Executive Power, in suitably unprecise words, was
arrangedso that - "he who wants the case, has the case". When
a judgement had been passed in a court, there was no police of military
who came to seize the condemned person. Those who had opened the case had
to bring the judgement to its fulfilment themselves. In practice it was
usually the litigant's Godi (or the Godi for himself) who pursued the execution,
by his armed men. Most cases were settled by payment, but apart from that
were exiles: Three years' exile was common, but up to twenty years in the
most serious cases. - When Grettir-the-Strong was exiled (on false grounds,
it seems) it was the father of the man whom Grettir had been believed to
have killed intentionally - while they were both abroad - this father led
the attempts against Grettir, and laid a sum of money as a prize "for
his head".
In general it can be said that the common interests of the Godi-s and other
responsible people throughout the country provided for the enforcement
of the Laws. -An outlawed person had not only to fear the Godi who had
prosecuted him, but everybody who helped the outlaw was susceptible to
prosecution. The man however, who defied this obligation and gave shelter
and support to an outlaw was sometimes admired by the people, which is
amply testified by the Sagas.
The Balance of Power between the 36 Godi-s of Iceland rested upon geographical
limitations and distances of travel to a particular Main Temple. Although
people from far off parts of the country were free, by their own choice,
to be "registered" as the followers of any Godi, those were the
exceptions, not the rule. By arrangements with the Main Temples any expansion
of power seems to have been safely avoided in the beginning. So, for a
long time, the size of the power units remained stable.
After the introduction of Christianity, wealth began to be accumulated
by the churches. When this happened, several Godi-s took the opportunity
to become Priests themselves. Thereby these Godi-s got hold of the wealth
of the Church, and the sys-tem of the Church-godi-s began to develop itself.(from
ca. 1096. Instead of being managers of the Temples and their property,
the Godi-s now made the main churches their sources of wealth. This arrangement
was angrily disapproved by some churchmen. Due to its offensive against
this arrangement, the Church, in the 13th century, gradually undermined
the foundations of Godic power, until they cracked and the rule of foreign
Kings was introduced into Icelandic life.
A New Form of Society. The Godic Republic, whether compared with its precedents
in Norway of with the social organization found in Europe in the same period
(930-1262) is evidently a unique organization in any case. William the
Cardinal indign- antly called it "wrongful that Iceland should not
serve some King just as all other countries in the world". Even in
Norway, where he learned casually about Icelandic matters, this Middle-Ages'
represen-tative of christian Europe - William the Cardinal, even expressed
dismay against this form of society, unknown to him, which had then existed
in Iceland for 300 (years (1247).
If one compares the Godic form of society with the old Norwegian organization,
basic differences are revealed. In Norway there was a long ladder of ranks
among its people such as: 1. the ordinary peasant (with all his subordinates);
2. a service bound rich farmer (höldr); 3. a district chief (hersir)
4. an Earl (Jarl); 5. a King (konungr). The organization in Norway was
primarily after the pattern of the military. Chiefs were at least when
war or foreign attack was imminent, in fact Generals of the military. Not
a trace of this ladder of ranks can be found in Iceland. Nobody in Iceland
was ever called Hersir, nor Earl, nor King; even not höldr, except
poetically or rhetorically. The Icelandic social organization, therefore,
is no copy of the Norwegian social ranks, although there is no doubt about
its Norwegian origins. If we consider the well-to-do landowning farmer
as the basic unit of society in Iceland, with his family and servants,
then nothing of this superstructure was over him. The only "superior"
to an Icelander of that period was the Godi, who was the man of advice
or consult in emotional matters, the man of law and social contacts and
of the elegant speech at Lögberg, and the man of Faith to gods and
men. In reality he became a even a politician, and in critical cases a
ruler with weaponed power.
The supporters of the Godi were above all the well- to-do farmers whom
we can identify as the Taxpayers. Those who rode to the Thing were primarily
from the ranks of the Taxpayers (thegnar), and since the journey was difficult
and expensive those who went were exempt from the Thing-journey-tax, while
the others who remained at home paid the tax.
The social order in Iceland was built on the right of possession. There
were also, in addition to Taxpayers: small farmers, tenants, manual workers
and working women. tramps and exiles, fishing people in fishing huts, slaves
and bondwomen, coming from the other layers of the social order. Surely
there waas a considerable feeling of class distinction - although far less
outspoken than in other countries of Europe, and elsewhere, in those times.
Nonetheless, it is evident that the equality between all of the Godi-s
at the Althing had its effects all through the society.Those who have not
been oppressed, themselves, have less desire to suppress others. Therefore,
class distinctions were less felt at every stage.
The weregild (payment to relatives if a man was slain) was equal fro all
free men, even for the Godi-s, and that was a condition in sharp contradistinction
to the conditions found then in feudal Europe. The urge, in Iceland, for
equal rights has always been a prominent desire with the Icelanders up
to the present time.